Monday, September 26, 2022

Available Now:

Game 7:  A Fictional Memoir

by James & Jimmy Tretick

Barnes and Noble Press

Trade Paperback


From the Barnes and Noble website:



It was September 30, 1971, and 11-year-old Jimmy couldn't believe his watering eyes. The last inning of the last game his beloved losers—the Washington Senators—would ever play got trashed by rowdy fans and then the team skipped town. Jimmy thought his first love was lost forever.

However, in 2005, America's favorite pastime suddenly returned to the Nation's Capital. The new team wasn't any better than the old team, though. In fact, they were worse. But James, now in his 50s, still got a job working at Nationals Park (because getting paid to watch baseball was a no-brainer.)

For Washington fans, 2019 seemed to be over before it started: Eight weeks into the season, the Nats were 19-and-31 with a slew of injuries. Then on May 24th, something improbable began to happen on the field; and by October 1st something magical began to happen for James ... and to Jimmy.

While every Nats fan already knows the final outcome of this underdog World Series shocker, baseball lovers from around the country will enjoy discovering the Fall Classic journey that culminated in a season Washington DC will never forget.

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Now Available:

Show the Value of What You Do:  Measuring and Achieving Success in Any Endeavor

by Patricia Pulliam Phillips & Jack J. Phillips

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:



In an era of evidence-based inquiry, people need to be able to demonstrate the value of their projects credibly. But how do you do that when there isn't an obvious measure connected to the project, like increased sales?

In their new book Patti and Jack Phillips, the cofounders of ROI Institute, show how you can adopt the same methodology used by more than 6,000 organizations in seventy countries to evaluate large institutional initiatives. By following their six-step process, you can build a case for any project, process, or intervention, even so-called soft programs. For example, the first case study in the book involves successfully demonstrating the effectiveness of chaplaincy in an intensive care unit.

The authors explain how to link your project to a meaningful business outcome, make sure your project will actually influence that outcome, identify metrics that will show if you're making progress, collect and analyze data, and use the results to build support.

This book includes extensive examples from a wide range of organizations: businesses, nonprofits, schools, law enforcement, and more. It provides diagnostic tools and supportive practices and even offers advice on how to find a positive interpretation for results that don't conform to your anticipated outcome.

Answering the question Is it worth it? defines the ultimate value of any project. Using the methodology this book presents will keep your work relevant, your career on track, and your organization healthy.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Available Now:

There's a Riot Going On:  Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of '60s Counter-Culture

by Peter Doggett

Canongate Books

Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:



Between 1965 and 1972, political activists around the globe prepared to mount a revolution, from the Black Panthers to the Gay Liberation Front, from the Yippies to the IRA. Rock and soul music supplied the revolutionary tide with anthems and iconic imagery; and renowned musicians such as John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan were particularly influential in the movement. This is the definitive account of this unique period in modern history; a compelling portrait of an era when revolutionaries turned into rock stars, and rock stars dressed up as revolutionaries.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Available Now:

The Divider:  Trump in the White House, 2017 - 2021

by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser

A.A. Knopf

Hardcover

 

From the publisher's website:

 


The bestselling authors of The Man Who Ran Washington argue that Trump was not just lurching from one controversy to another; he was learning to be more like the foreign autocrats he admired.

The Divider brings us into the Oval Office for countless scenes both tense and comical, revealing how close we got to nuclear war with North Korea, which cabinet members had a resignation pact, whether Trump asked Japan’s prime minister to nominate him for a Nobel Prize and much more. The book also explores the moral choices confronting those around Trump—how they justified working for a man they considered unfit for office, and where they drew their lines.

The Divider is based on unprecedented access to key players, from President Trump himself to cabinet officers, military generals, close advisers, Trump family members, congressional leaders, foreign officials and others, some of whom have never told their story until now.

 

Monday, September 19, 2022

Now Available:

Loud:  A Life in Rock 'n' Roll by the World's First Female Roadie

by Tana Douglas

ABC Books

Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:



At just fifteen, Tana Douglas ran away to the circus that was rock 'n' roll in the 1970s, taking a job with a young and upcoming band called AC/DC. While still a teenager she headed to the UK and later the US to work for a who's who of bands and artists. Life on the road was exhilarating, hard work, occasionally surreal but never dull, particularly when you're the only woman in the road crew and the #metoo movement is still 40 years away.

Whether wrangling Iggy Pop across Europe, climbing trusses while seven months pregnant, drinking shots of JD with Bon Scott backstage at Wembley, or donning a tailor-made suit to do lights for Elton at Windsor Castle, Tana did it all.

Loud is rock 'n' roll like you've never seen it before, by a woman who not only survived the all-male world on the road but climbed to the top and lived to tell the tale.

AC/DC ∗ Deep Purple ∗ ELO ∗ Elton John ∗ Ice Cube ∗ Ice-T ∗ Iggy Pop∗ INXS ∗ Iron Maiden ∗ Lenny Kravitz ∗ Neil Diamond ∗ Ozzy Osbourne ∗ Patti Smith ∗ Pearl Jam ∗ Rage Against the Machine ∗ Red Hot Chili Peppers ∗ Santana ∗ Status Quo ∗ Suzi Quatro ∗ The Offspring ∗ The Police ∗ The Runaways ∗ The Who ∗ Vanda & Young and more!

Friday, September 16, 2022

Available Now:

Roar Like a Goddess:  Every Woman's Guide to Becoming Apologetically Powerful, Prosperous, & Peaceful

by Acharya Shunya

sounds true

Trade Paperback

 

From the book publicity:


Roar Like a Goddess is a portal to the power of the three wisdom goddesses that lie within each of us. This book is a transmission that will awaken and empower you.” ―Tracee Stanley, author of Radiant Rest and Empowered Life Self-Inquiry Oracle Deck

Within you is a wellspring of strength and resilience, the ability to create and enjoy abundance, and an expansive sense of inner freedom and divinity. Yet after centuries of living in patriarchal societies, many women don’t realize how powerful they are―or how much they’ve been enculturated to keep their true nature hidden.

In
Roar Like a Goddess, trailblazing Vedic spiritual teacher Acharya Shunya empowers women everywhere to step into their divine immensity and lead powerful, abundant, and wise lives through her revolutionary revisioning of ancient India’s primary goddess archetypes:

• Part 1 features the Goddess Durga―A role model who vanquishes internalized oppression, Durga teaches you how to take back your full feminine power.
• Part 2 introduces the Goddess Lakshmi―Known for her beauty and generous spirit, Lakshmi guides you to cultivate unshakable inner contentment and soul-aligned abundance.
• Part 3 celebrates the Goddess Saraswati―The ultimate teacher of our deepest journey to Self, Saraswati illuminates the gifts of wisdom, peace, and inner freedom.

Throughout
Roar Like a Goddess, Shunya honors her progressive Vedic roots while breaking the shackles of tradition to bring modern-day women an inclusive, feminist spirituality. Sharing classic myths, original insights, and empowering practices, Shunya offers a profound process for awakening the many faces of goddess within. “It is time for all women to come out of the closet and roar with all their spiritual power,” she writes, “because that is our true sound.”

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Now Available:

The Hidden History of Neoliberalism:  How Reaganism Gutted American and How to Restore Its Greatness

by Thom Hartmann

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:



America's most popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how and why neoliberalism became so prevalent in the United States and why it's time for us to turn our backs to it.America's most popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how and why neoliberalism became so prevalent in the United States and why it's time for us to turn our backs to it.

With four decades of neoliberal rule coming to an end, America is at a crossroads. In this powerful and accessible book, Thom Hartmann demystifies neoliberalism and explains how we can use this pivotal point in time to create a more positive future.

This book traces the history of neoliberalism-a set of capitalistic philosophies favoring free trade, low taxes on the rich, financial austerity, and deregulation of big business-up to the present day. Hartmann explains how neoliberalism was sold as a cure for wars and the Great Depression. He outlines the destructive impact that it has had on America, looking at how it has increased poverty, damaged the middle class, and corrupted our nation's politics.

America is standing on the edge of a new progressive era. We can continue down the road to a neoliberal oligarchy, as supported by many of the nation's billionaires and giant corporations. Or we can choose to return to Keynesian economics and Alexander Hamilton's “American Plan” by raising taxes on the rich, reversing free trade, and building a society that works for all.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Available Now:

From Saturday Night to Sunday Night:  My Forty Years of Laughter, Tears, and Touchdowns in TV

by Dick Ebersol

Simon & Schuster

Hardcover

 

From the publisher's website:


Think of an important moment in live TV over the last half-century. Dick Ebersol was likely involved.

Dropping out of college to join the crew of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, Ebersol worked the Mexico City Olympics during the famous protest by John Carlos and Tommie Smith as well as the Munich Olympics during the tragic hostage standoff. He went on to cocreate Saturday Night Live with Lorne Michaels and later produced the show for four seasons, helping launch Eddie Murphy to stardom. After creating Friday Night Videos and partnering with Vince McMahon to bring professional wrestling to network TV, he next took over NBC Sports, which helped turn basketball into a global phenomenon and made history as the first broadcaster to host the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, and the Summer Olympics in the same year; it was Ebersol who was responsible for Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame in Atlanta. Then, following a plane crash that took the life of his fourteen-year-old son Teddy and nearly killed him, he determinedly undertook perhaps his greatest career achievement: creating NBC’s Sunday Night Football, still the #1 primetime show in America. The Today Show’s headline-making hosting changes, the so-called “Late-Night Wars,” O.J. Simpson’s Bronco chase—Ebersol had a front-row seat to it all.

From Saturday Night to Sunday Night is filled with entertaining and illuminating stories featuring such boldface names as Billy Crystal, Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, Jay Leno, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps and Larry David. (Ebersol even inspired the famous Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza pretends he didn’t quit his job.) More than that, the book offers an insightful history and analysis of TV’s evolution from broadcast to cable and beyond—a must read for casual binge-watchers and small-screen aficionados alike.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Available Now:

They Knew:  How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent

by Sarah Kendzior

Flatiron Books

Hardcover

 

From the publisher's website:

 


Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. Uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists.

The truth may hurt—but the lies will kill us.

They Knew discusses conspiracy culture in a rapidly declining United States struggling with corruption, climate change, and other crises. As the actions of the powerful remain shrouded in mystery—“From Norman Baker to Jeffrey Epstein, Iran-Contra to January 6" (VF)—it is unsurprising that people turn to conspiracy theories to fill the informational void. They Knew exposes the tactics these powerful actors use to placate an inquisitive public.

Here, for the first time, Kendzior blends her signature whip-smart prose and eviscerating arguments with lyrical and intimate examinations of the times and places that haunt American history. "America is a ghost story," writes Kendzior, as she unearths decades of buried history, providing an essential and critical look at how to rebuild our democracy by confronting the political lies and crimes that have shaped us.

Monday, September 12, 2022

Available Now:

Like a Rolling Stone:  A Memoir

by Jann Wenner

Little Brown and Company

Hardcover


From the publisher's website:



Jann Wenner has been called by his peers “the greatest editor of his generation.”

His deeply personal memoir vividly describes and brings you inside the music, the politics, and the lifestyle of a generation, an epoch of cultural change that swept America and beyond. The age of rock and roll in an era of consequence, what will be considered one of the great watersheds in modern history. Wenner writes with the clarity of a journalist and an essayist. He takes us into the life and work of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bono, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. He was instrumental in the careers of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, and Annie Leibovitz. His journey took him to the Oval Office with his legendary interviews with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, leaders to whom Rolling Stone gave its historic, full-throated backing. From Jerry Garcia to the Dalai Lama, Aretha Franklin to Greta Thunberg, the people Wenner chose to be seen and heard in the pages of Rolling Stone tried to change American culture, values, and morality.

Like a Rolling Stone is a beautifully written portrait of one man’s life, and the life of his generation.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Now Available:

American Demon:  Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper

by Daniel Stashower

Minotaur Books

Hardcover

 

From the publisher's website:


Boston had its Strangler. California had the Zodiac Killer. And in the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland had the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.

On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.

Terror gripped the city. Amid the growing uproar, Cleveland’s besieged mayor turned to his newly-appointed director of public safety: Eliot Ness. Ness had come to Cleveland fresh from his headline-grabbing exploits in Chicago, where he and his band of “Untouchables” led the frontline assault on Al Capone’s bootlegging empire. Now he would confront a case that would redefine his storied career.

Award-winning author Daniel Stashower shines a fresh light on one of the most notorious puzzles in the annals of crime, and uncovers the gripping story of Ness’s hunt for a sadistic killer who was as brilliant as he was cool and composed, a mastermind who was able to hide in plain sight. American Demon reconstructs this ultimate battle of wits between a hero and a madman.

 

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Now Available:

Burl:  Journalism Giant and Medical Trailblazer

by Jane Wolfe

Andrews McMeel Publishing

Hardcover


From the publisher's website:



Burl
is the story of one man’s unlikely rise from the coal mines of Appalachia to the pinnacle of journalism. After being diagnosed with a fatal kidney disease as a child, Burl Osborne pioneered home dialysis treatment and became the 130th person to undergo a live kidney transplant in 1966—then an unproven, high-risk operation.

While managing his challenging illness, Burl distinguished himself early as a writer and reporter with The Associated Press, eventually rising to the top of the wire service’s executive ranks. Then, against the advice of his colleagues and the newspaper’s own doctors, he sought an even greater challenge: joining The Dallas Morning News to lead the fight in one of America’s last great newspaper wars.
 
Throughout his life and career, he garnered respect from business and political leaders, reporters, editors, and publishers around the country. Burl thrusts readers into the improbable and remarkable life of a man at the forefront of both medicine and the golden age of journalism.

Sunday, September 4, 2022

Available Now:

Rated X:  How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood

by Maitland Ward

Atria Books

Hardcover


From the publisher's website:



Maitland Ward got her start in acting as a teenager when she was cast in The Bold and the Beautiful, but it wasn’t until she joined the later seasons of the sitcom Boy Meets World that she got her first taste of fame. As the loveable, sexy (but not too sexy) co-ed Rachel McGuire, Ward soon found herself being typecast as the good girl next door and was repeatedly denied darker, more intriguing roles. So she made a career change—one that required her to turn away from the Disney universe—and eventually established herself as one of the most-respected actresses in the porn industry today.

Now, Ward reveals the ups and downs of her fascinating career, including personal stories from her time on one of the most beloved shows of the 1990s, in this anything but a run-of-the-mill memoir. By showing Hollywood and triple-X stardom in a whole new light, she offers a fresh and stirring perspective on the sex industry. Ultimately a story of hope and triumph, Rated X is a sharp and provocative look at a former Disney princess who found her fairy tale in porn.